Tips to make your home more resilient this season!
What You’ll Learn Below:
Common Seasonal Changes
What your home can expect to see this Fall
Tips to Improve
How to get the most bang for your buck with weatherization
Stay Connected
More education opportunities to help you get prepared
‘Tis the Season to Be Ready
Every season brings new challenges for your home. By taking a few simple steps, you can stay comfortable, healthy, and efficient as the weather shifts. This fall, we’re sharing tips to help you weatherize your home and protect your health—because preparation now pays off all season long
The EarthCraft program here at Southface, knows a thing or two about the changes Fall brings to residents across the Southeast. Pumpkin Spice Lattes return — along with cooler temperatures, rising illnesses, and critters creeping into homes. The best way to protect your home is to understand these seasonal shifts and take proactive steps to address them
The air temperature cools every fall starting in the month of September. The change in temperature commonly causes tropical cyclones and severe thunderstorms to form. But this air is not only cooler, the amount of moisture in the air – or the relative humidity, also drops. That’s why it feels crisp. But air that’s too dry can cause viruses and respiratory infections to increase. Combined with the start of the school year, these conditions contribute to higher risks of flu, colds, and even COVID-19.
Humans aren’t the only ones looking for warmth—pests and animals are, too. That’s why fall often brings more stink bugs, rodents, spiders, and ants indoors.
Dry Air Strategies
Fall is the perfect time to air-seal your home, keeping dry air outside and comfort inside. Use caulk around windows and doors to seal any cracks. You can also check for any gaps or holes around plumbing penetrations in both new construction and existing homes.
Not only will air be dryer causing more viruses, because of the time of year pollution may also rise. Dry, dirty air will come from spaces next to unconditioned air such as garages, crawlspaces, and attic. Check these spaces for any cracks or seams that allow air to leak into your living spaces and seal with caulk, spray foam, or other weather-resistant barriers like cardboard.
Depending on your health challenges, you can also use a humidifier to add moisture back into the air. Together, these measures improve your health, increase comfort, and reduce pathways for pests to enter.
Storm Resiliency Tips
Here is a small checklist for things to observe and fix :
Q: Is the ground around the base of my home sloping toward the house?
Tip: If sloping toward, purchasing extensions to the down spout, such as a French drain can redirect water further away from the foundation
Q: Does my crawlspace or attic have openings, vents, or not?
Tip: Investing in a dehumidifier in advance for those spaces can dry any moisture that can even seep into the insulation.
Q: Which appliances to watch out for in case of a power outage?
Tip: Unplug refrigerators and appliances such as dryers so that moisture doesn’t pool or is sucked in.
Stay Connected
Have any additional questions? Feel free to check out our resource library for more weatherization tips in general.
Resource Link
We also have an upcoming DET and HERS Rater Trainings, to equip builders with the same foundations to help current and future homeowners alike.
